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A three-minute escape to Italy.

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March 15, 2020 In Best Of, Live By Nancy

How Italians are handling the lockdown with grace and style

Italians have never really had much of a national identity, with the exception of during the World Cup. Instead one’s allegiance is with the village, and maybe with the nearby villages or towns when a question of regional pride comes up. But this lockdown is different. There’s pride in the air about doing this extraordinary thing for the common good. Marry that to an insatiable need to connect, share, and be social and some creative and touching things happen. I feel an overwhelming sense that we are alone in our homes but all in this together. Right there now there is 70% approval rating in what the Italian government is doing and 70% of Italians agreeing on anything is a miracle.

All countries will handle lockdowns in their own way, with some novel ideas to burn off stress and connect, but I wanted to share a few things that have happened this week in Italy.

The stay-at-home flash mob idea is big. You’ve probably seen an article about it but my Italian friends are sharing videos from all over the country — the streets are truly filled with music. There’s some coordination through social media instructing people to open windows at a certain time and sing the national anthem, or a pop song popular in the 1970s, or a locally popular ballad. Six in the evening is a popular time for this and our village bells rang and rang in solidarity with the people singing yesterday, according to a friend of mine who is sequestered at the top of the hill in the old section and nearer the action. I dare you to watch this short video and not cry. (It was shot by Jacopo Losco, a first year university student in Milan, from his house and sent by a friend.)

Tonight we turned on flashlights from our windows at 9pm. People where waving the lights back and forth and calling out “Ciao!” across the small valley.

A Milanese friend says that everyone goes to their windows and applauds at noon in honor of the medical community and support staff who haven’t left hospitals in weeks. People are also lighting candles and putting them in windows in appreciation.

“It will be fine.” Kids all over the country are creating drawings of rainbows with the phrase “Andrà tutto bene” and placing them in windows. I went to the grocery store today and passed several. It warms the heart.

Life at the grocery store. John went yesterday, I went today, and we both had similar experiences. He got there at a bit before opening and there were about eight people in line ahead, everyone waiting very patiently. They let one person in at a time, with time for them put on the plastic gloves by the door and go into the store, and then they let in the next person. When I went today is was during the sacred Sunday Lunch so the store was empty. Both times everything was fully stocked, EVEN TOILET PAPER. Staff masked and friendly. All but a very few customers in masks. Clear demarcation on the floor for the “distance of respect” between people waiting in line. Both experiences were so calm and orderly. It seems to be that people feel like the government has the fundamentals — food, fuel, trash pickup — under control and they don’t need to hoard.

Online school is going well, so far. My friends’ kids who are continuing school virtually seem to be enjoying it. My friend in Milan said her daughter in middle school gets up every morning and gets dressed for online school. Her athletics teacher is even holding remote yoga classes, requesting that students get on their mats on video camera.

Pornhub is waiving their subscription fee for Italy. At least from what I’ve heard.

Signs of Italian pride are growing. People are starting to hang Italian flags from balconies. And this display from the air force with a sound track of Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma, “let no one sleep”, is moving. And not in a chest-bounding, nationalistic way.

Italians are keeping a sense of humor. Here are two different memes that I particularly love playing on Italian women’s devotion to salons, and hair removal. The salons are, of course, all closed. Both memes show what Italian women will look like when the lockdown lifts (which was originally said to be April 3, but clearly no one knows. Which means it could be worse than this.)

Meanwhile I just got an alert that the death toll in the last 24 hours was a staggering 368.

I wanted to close with something circulating on Italian social media:

“This is an opportunity to turn an emergency into an opportunity of solidarity and unity. Let’s change the way we see and think. I will no longer say “I’m afraid of this contagion” or “I don’t care about this contagion”, but it is I who will sacrifice for you.

I worry about you.
I keep a distance for you.
I wash my hands for you.
I give up that trip for you.
I’m not going to the concert for you.
I’m not going to the mall for you.

For you!

For you who are inside an ICU room.
For you who are old and frail, but whose life has value as much as mine.
For you who are struggling with cancer and can’t fight this too.

Please, let’s rise to this challenge!

Come together…nothing else matters.”

I think Italy has come together like never before and I’m proud to be a part of it.

March 12, 2020 In Best Of By Nancy

Staying sane in Italy’s lockdown

We are three days into complete lockdown in our small village in Tuscany. My whole physical world has shrunk to the house above. It is unlike any other experience I’ve had, full of some surprising sweetness and introspection alongside the anxiety, limitations, and worry. I’m discovering a few things that help me cope.

In case you aren’t familiar with the details of the Italian quarantine we are allowed to leave the house only to buy groceries (at the nearest store), or go to the pharmacy. If you do happen to be driving (or even walking) the police can stop you at any time to check on your self-declared paperwork about why you are out of your house. The only movement allowed is to certain kinds of work, a medical appointment, or to buy food. If you are headed to work or a doctor the police will call your boss, or the doctor’s office, to confirm your story. If it doesn’t check out double points will go on your drivers license. The vast majority of stores and all restaurants, bars, and other social gathering places are closed. All schools of all levels are suspended. I saw a casket arriving at the cemetery today without any mourners, just the priest and undertakers, as even funerals are banned.

Although we are only three days into total lockdown we had a week or so before of very limited movement. Here are a few things I’ve learned.

I am not my work. It’s so easy for me to have my self-worth equal success multiplied by busyness. Suddenly it has all come to a grinding halt for the present moment and life is stripped down to the essentials. Additionally every day seems to have a few added hours. In this time I have been doing a lot of things I’ve always had on the list, like meditation, and other kinds of self-reflection. It has been really sweet time with John as we are both trying to figure out this new status, which could last a while, as a team and what will make it work for us.

Nature helps. I crave being outside. I take a long walk with Lola every day – the only time I leave the property — making sure to keep a careful distance from the one or two other people I see out. Walking among fields and trees, and working in the yard, change my mental state and always improve it. If I didn’t have a yard I think even an herb garden in a pot would take on a special significance.

Home projects are finally getting done. We’ve always had a long list of things we’ve wanted to do to the house and are finally tackling some of them. A large bookcase which has been primed but not painted for several years now finally has its coat of paint and has changed the room completely. The olives have never been as well pruned. If you think a lockdown might be headed your way you might want to get what you need to tackle a few projects.

Cooking feels healing. Luckily food in Italy is in plentiful supply including meat, fruits, and vegetables. We are finding one of the big things that feels essential right now is to cook great meals. We’ve been making souffles, ice cream, roasts, cooking steaks over the fire, having the season’s first fava beans and baby asparagus. Meals feel more like a celebration.

I can’t control anything. Always good for me to be reminded of this and build the trust muscle that can handle it.

Indulgences take on a new importance. We’ve been nurturing ourselves a bit more. Nightly fires are the focus of the evening. Hot baths, shower gels that smell really good, candles, books, flowers picked on walks all lift my spirits. John is playing piano more and learning a new piece.

The world has suddenly become very small and quiet. The air is clearer and crisper with fewer cars on the road, even in our rural area. It smells amazing.

The company of animals is even more precious. Thank God for Lola and the two cats. If you are going into lockdown this could be a great time to get that shelter animal and bond like crazy.

The work at home part. I normally work remotely from Italy and this article by Melissa Romo resonated for me. She writes about some of tricks of the trade she’s developed to kill it working remotely.

We are all in this together. It feels right and good that we are all attempting to curb this thing village by village, city by city. The mayor of the neighboring village posted a video last night saying that there were too many people out of their homes yesterday. Today a friend and I were going to walk our dogs together by the river but decided not to as it didn’t seem like it was sending the right message. We have to protect the grandparents in the village in every way we can. (The average age of the Italian victims is an astonishing 81.) Particularly in the North hospitals are completely overwhelmed in every way from beds to staff and we can’t let it get that way here.

Suddenly we want to reach out to people we really care about but don’t talk with often enough. And we are surprised to find that people from all parts of our lives are getting in touch with us. It is a lovely thing.

More later as it evolves for us all.

March 9, 2020 In Best Of, Live By Nancy

The village vs. coronavirus

What is life like under the shadow of the coronavirus in my small village in Tuscany? Much feels different since the weekend decree holding 14 million Italians in quarantine in the North, and just finding out we are included in the lockdown. Some things remain the same, like my daily walk where I often see locals out for trail rides.

The villages of our valley issued a statement that in addition to all schools being suspended (preschool to universities), so are sporting events, public and private events, including theaters and cinemas, all civil and religious ceremonies, including funerals (?!), discos and clubs. Visitors to hospitals and nursing homes are strictly limited. Businesses, cafes, and restaurants remain open but must guarantee that any patrons are at least one meter apart. If the measures are disregarded the punishment is three months in jail. Everyone who just fled Milan is supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days.

A friend in Milan was sharing her large consulting firm’s response to the virus (this was from last week, not sure how it has changed as of today). All entrances were closed except for one. Everyone entering and exiting had their temperatures taken. No more than two people in an elevator.

Our local grocery stores are still well stocked, including toilet paper (still don’t quite understand the run on that in the States) and we are working on our hand sanitization routines. Ok, load bags in car, return cart, sanitize hands and bottle before unlocking car. Drive home. Unload bags. Shit! Now the contaminated bags are in the kitchen!!

I saw an elderly man at the shared sink outside the bathroom at a tiny local restaurant counting while thoroughly washing his hands. Another man was doing our disinfection dance outside his car after exiting the pharmacy.

The pharmacy is one of the great things about Italian life. It’s the first line of defense for all matters of health with smart, trained pharmacist/doctors who consult with you about minor health issues, do small procedures, and give prescription medicine if they deem appropriate. Now only one person in at a time can enter and the counter cordoned off so all customers stand over a meter away from the pharmacist and register. The best thing is that they have contracted with a local lab to make hand sanitizer. Pretty impressive with only two stores.

There is suddenly a big push on social media to not go out in public, complete with its own hashtag #iorestoacasa “I stay at home”.

Where am I in all of this? Trying to adhere to #iorestoacasa despite my hatred of being cooped up. We live in such a small town that work, travel, hanging in cafes, and having lunch out every day are my escape valves, and now I don’t have them. I had to do an errand this morning and passed a cafe with tables in the sun where I badly wanted to stop and have a coffee but decided not to. I feel so cognisant of how many elderly people there are in our village and I want to protect them as much as possible. Unfortunately Donella and Sebastian cannot return from London for Easter. It’s fascinating to me that London and Donella’s university, UCL, one of the most international universities in the world, are taking so few precautions. According to Donella, London is 100% normal with the exception of a shortage of hand sanitizer. She is required to attend 200 person lectures and they have given no guidance to avoid the London Underground, nightclubs, or pubs which are in full swing. Quite the contrast.

I am tremendously proud of my adopted nation for how transparent and economically selfless the government has been so far — particularly in comparison to my birth nation and the UK which seem to be driven by politics rather than public safety. Testing is abundant, health care free, and people, at least here, seem to be aware that this is important and want to cooperate.

And there’s comfort in the age of this place. That the core of my house used to be a defensive tower in the middle ages, which I am sure has seen its share of people sheltering inside with the huge wooden doors closed. Embracing waiting and uncertainty is hard for us, and I am sure it always has been, and it feels like something I need to look in the face right now.

Meanwhile I am loving the Italian sense of humor which is coming out in full force on social media. A 30-something relative of John’s who grew up the same tiny village in Calabria where John’s grandparents lived (but now lives in the north) posted this:

It means “Nothing works, factories closed, nobody at school, cash is hoarded, refrigerators are full. All of Italy seems to be Calabria.”

Apparently the North/South divide of, well, everything even extends to pasta. Quartz had an article that in Milan the pasta aisle is often bare with the exception of the fully untouched penne lisce boxes. Penne comes in two varieties, striped or ridged, rigate, and smooth, liscio. The Northern Italians scorn the smooth type, apparently not even deeming it adequate to eat during a quarantine, while Southerners, particularly around Naples, prefer it. (That preference transferred to American Italians with the emigration from the South.) Northerners claim that the ridges hold the sauce better. Southerners believe that the ridges cook before the inner part of the pasta resulting in the outer layer becoming overcooked. And that the ridges were a by-product of the industrialization of pasta and the shortcuts that lowered the quality. A Michelin-starred chef from Naples, Gennaro Esposito, was quoted in the delightful Quartz article as saying that penne rigate was “the apex of weak thought.”

A couple of baristas from a local cafe who are as close to Brooklyn hipsters as we get put a series of memes about the village on Instagram. I loved one of their latest. It’s a comparison of the village with, and without, the virus. We are so remote it’s like we are quarantined most of the time.

Today I decided to get cozy and make comfort food for lunch as we decided not to go out. Here’s what we made:

Pasta alla siege

Free form recipe but amazing. We sauteed three yellow onions and then added pork sausage to brown well. I had made some of Skye Gyngell’s Slow Roasted Tomatoes that we added (about a cup of them), a two of jars of chopped tomatoes, bay leaves, loads of black pepper and dried red spicy pepper, red wine, a few dried porcini, and a pinch of organo. It was hot, a little sweet from the roasted tomatoes that added a nice complexity, the porcini gave it a rich undertone. Pretty darn good for a siege.